CAG rapped Bihar government for lack of plan on utilisation of funds

PATNA: CAG has ticked off Nitish Kumar government for lacking objective planning for utilisation of funds drawn on Abstract Contingency(AC) bills.

The Bihar government had withdrawn Rs 16,033.01 crore on AC bills between 2009-12 of which the plan head drawals accounted for Rs 12,332.64 crore which indicated that object level planning was absent as items of expenditure were known while drawing the amount, CAG said in its report on state finances for the fiscal 2011-12.

The money was simply drawn through the AC bill mode under plan heads for future use awaiting finalisation of implementation modalities to avoid lapse of appropriations, it said.

The national auditor also expressed concern over Detailed Contingency (DC) bills to the tune of Rs 18,797.90 crore remaining pending or submission to Accountant General (Accounts and Expenditure) till August 31, 2012, against 92,168 AC bill drawals amounting to Rs. 30,305.47 crore.

CAG further noted that no expenditure was incurred against AC drawals of Rs 171.64 crore meant for upgradation of primary health centres (PHCs) and sub-divisional hospitals during 2009-11 and was provided to Bihar Medical Services and Infrastructure Corporation Ltd ( BMSIC) and the entire amount remained utilised till August 2012.

Pointing to other irregularities in drawal of funds under AC bills, it observed that considerable portion of funds drawn through this route was lying either with the drawing and disbursement officers( DDO) or with the executive agencies even after the lapse of the financial year during which the money was drawn and had been parked in various personal deposit accounts and bank accounts.

CAG said the overall picture of the funds drawn on the AC bills and parked outside the government accounts stood at Rs 271.38 crore till March, 2012.

In a specific case it was found that Rs 17.32 crore under the head of Chief Minister Merit Scholarship Scheme was parked in bank accounts, it said.

When the auditors asked the concerned department about parking of the amount in bank accounts, it was told that a decision had been taken to carry forward the unspent amount over to the next financial year (2012-13) to meet anticipated expenditure on payment of scholarship due to insufficient budgetary provision in 2012-13 under the scheme.

It found about 100 per cent surrender of funds at Rs 1472.61 crore in 192 schemes under 30 grants/appropriations due to non-implementation of the schemes which deprived intended beneficiaries of benefits and services.

The state government surrendered Rs 4251.53 crore in 22 grants involving 69 sub-heads against total provision of Rs 5838.96 crore, while in yet another instance Rs 287.75 crore excess surrender was made, the CAG report said. At the same time CAG found a number of positives in the financial health of Bihar in 2011-12 which it said was stable in spite of slowdown in the Indian economy.

There was sizable increase in revenue receipts due to increase in its own tax revenue by 27.78 per cent and higher tax devolution from the Centre by 16.5 per cent, which were more than the projection of the 13th Finance Commission and the budget estimates of the state. As a result of growth in revenue receipts, the state government was able to spend more on account of non-plan and plan heads in 2011-12, the CAG report said.

The auditor made a number of recommendations to the state government to augment its non-tax revenue and set up a mechanism to institutionalise transparency and accountability systems for better monitoring of the central funds being directly transferred to the state implementing agencies by both the state and the centre, the CAG said.

It also asked the state government to review viability of various public sector undertakings in Bihar and work out a revival strategy for those which can be made viable and close down those which may not be viable.